Fish and Game launch planned dive to find 'Lizzi' Marriott's body

PORTSMOUTH — Prescott Park and Peirce Island are closed off to public traffic today due to a planned dive to search for body of college student.

Jane Young, Associate Attorney General in N.H., reports the Fish and Game launched their planned dive today to search for the body of UNH student Elizabeth Marriott after her murder nearly two weeks ago.

“We haven't calculated the expenses yet,” Young, told Foster's Monday as the search for Marriott entered its 11th day following her disappearance Oct. 9.

She said right now “the focus is on finding Lizzi.”

She also said there is no standard protocol in cases such as these and that the individual case itself determines what type of search is warranted and its duration.

As of last week, aircraft has been assisting the New Hampshire Fish and Game and Marine Patrol as well as Maine Marine Patrol, the Coast Guard and a number of volunteers in canvassing the grounds and water for Marriott's body.

While she could not comment on the details of this specific case as the investigation remains active and open, Young said there have been a number of homicides in the past that have taken some time to locate the body.

In 2011, a days-long search resulted in the discovery of 11-year-old Selena Cass in a Connecticut River dam near her home in Stewartstown near the Vermont border.

The vehicle of Krista Dittmeyer was located near a snowmaking pond near Cranmore Mountain where her body had been disposed.

Dover resident Seth Mazzaglia, 29, has been charged and arraigned in connection with Marriott's death. He is currently being held without bail at Strafford County House of Corrections. Officials believe he either strangled or suffocated Marriott in his Sawyer Mills apartment, though investigators have not revealed the evidence they believe points to Marriott's murder or why the search has continued to be conducted in the area of Peirce Island.